Soft drinks such as colas, fruit juices and mineral waters, are popularly served chilled. The most effective way to maintain a dispensed beverage at a reduced temperature throughout the period of time required to consume the drink, is to mix water ice with the beverage. Combination beverage and ice dispensers are well known to the art. Typically, these devices combine an ice chest either above or below the counter which dispenses crushed or cube ice from a cup actuated spigot into the consumer's empty cup. Lever actuated beverage dispensers are located alongside the ice dispenser and are typically supplied by fountain beverages stored in refrigerated conditions at a remote location and piped to the dispenser through flexible tubing. In the past, such self-service beverage dispensers have been located in cafeteria line type restaurants or in employee dining areas. More recently, convenience stores, often in connection with retail gasoline sales outlets, have offered a wide range of ready-to-eat snacks or meals. In such a location, fountain beverages are made available for self-service dispensing by the customer. Typically, a customer will select the serving size beverage container desired, fill the container with the desired beverage and proportion of ice and pay for the beverage along with other purchases at a checkout counter. By making beverages available on a self-service basis, labor costs are reduced, and customers are free to select their desired beverage with or without ice at their leisure. Because customers may enter a convenience store for numerous reasons other than dining purposes, a convenience store beverage dispenser must serve as an advertisement or display for the products dispensed in order to appeal to impulse purchasers. It has generally been observed that a consumer is more likely to purchase an item which is visible to him prior to the purchase. In this way a consumer may judge the quality and appeal of the item before making the decision to buy. Conventional beverage and ice dispensers however, due to the need to refrigerate and store at reduced temperatures the contents commonly have blank metal exteriors or printed or luminated signs or facia. These printed and ornamental displays may induce favorable consumer response by suggesting coolness and satisfaction of thirst, but mere images are generally less effective than the actual product.
What is needed is an ice dispenser for self-service use which provides for consumer display of the ice to be dispensed.